Steven Burt – Greenwich

April 2018

Man jailed for 20-year spate of sex abuse on children

A man has been jailed for more than 30 years after committing multiple sexual offences over a 20-year period.

Steven Burt, 61, of Greenwich in London, was sentenced today to a total of 32 years and six months at Isleworth Crown Court.

He was also ordered to pay four victims £15,000 each and two other victims £1,000 each.

Burt was found guilty of 33 offences relating to two male and four female victims, who were all known to him.

These included 14 counts of indecent assault on a male child, two counts of buggery of a male, four counts of buggery of a female, and eight counts of indecent assault on a female.

Other offences included two counts of indecency with a child, two counts of sexual intercourse with a child and one count on actual bodily harm.

At an earlier hearing on February 27 at Isleworth Crown Court, Burt pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful intercourse with a child in 1980

One of Burt’s victims first contacted police in 2014.

Burt had abused him since the age of eight and this continued into his teens. As a result of this investigation, five other victims were identified.

The offences took place in Feltham and Plumstead. The children were aged between six and 13 when they were abused by Burt.

Burt was arrested in November 2014 and subsequently charged on 29 June 2017. A female victim, said: ‘When I was abused, it changed my life. I have never been so scared. This continued for years.

‘I was so scared of the abuser carrying out all the threats he made. I was scared people would blame me, that this was my fault.

‘I was ashamed. I believed him when he said no one would believe me, that people would think I was dirty and sordid.

‘I believed that I was wrong and should have stopped it. I carried this dark secret with me, whilst trying to get on with my life, but it was always there.

‘I was not to blame, I am not dirty, and it was not my fault. I am strong and brave and a survivor. Talking to the police for the first time was so hard but strangely therapeutic.

‘For the first time my dark secret was no longer secret. All my fears did not happen, I was believed and I was treated with such kindness.

‘I am now so happy, I am not living in fear, I am free. I am loving life for the first time since he hurt me. I no longer have a dark secret. I do have a past, but now I look forward.

‘Secrecy it what abusers use to continue their despicable behaviour. Secrecy is their weapon. ‘When you speak out, you start to take away their weapon. I can’t say it has been easy, anything but. However, I do not regret speaking out.